Business and Finance news

Pacific Investment Management has been hired to advise the U.S. government on the value of $118 billion of assets guaranteed in the bailout of Bank of America Corp, Bloomberg said, citing two people with knowledge of the decision.
Pimco, the world’s biggest bond investment manager, will evaluate Bank of America’s holdings, including securities backed by […]

The U.S. Treasury committed $6 billion to support GMAC LLC, the financing arm of General Motors Corp., widening the government’s effort to keep the largest U.S. automaker out of bankruptcy.
The Treasury will purchase a $5 billion stake in GMAC and lend $1 billion to GM so the automaker can contribute to the lender’s […]

The index of U.S. leading economic indicators probably fell in August for a third month, signaling the growth outlook darkened even before the latest collapse in financial markets, economists said before reports today.
The Conference Board's gauge, a measure of the economy's direction over the next three to six months, fell 0.2 percent, according […]

Bain Capital is among private equity firms considering buying certain Lehman Brothers Holdings assets, Bloomberg News reported Monday on its Web site.
Bain Capital, based in Boston, is eyeing Lehman's investment-management operations. Among the other firms considering a deal are Clayton Dubilier & Rice Inc. and Hellman & Friedman, Bloomberg reported easy quick payday loans.
Lehman, battered […]

China and Japan, the biggest buyers of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bonds, praised Washington for its rescue of the ailing mortgage giants, but investors had no illusions the bailout would end the global credit market misery.
As battered financial stocks rallied and investors sold safe-haven bonds, analysts cautioned that the plan announced on Sunday […]

South Korea's consumer prices are likely to remain high this month and in September even after oil's recent decline, Finance Minister Kang Man Soo said.
“Oil prices have stabilized somewhat, but the impact on domestic prices is likely to remain through this month and the next,'' Kang said at a weekly government meeting in […]

Sutter Health’s Mills Peninsula Health Services in San Mateo and Burlingame has reached a tentative contract agreement with the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee after 15 months of labor negotiations, the union announced Monday.
The deal covering some 650 registered nurses at the two campuses was struck after negotiators met with a federal mediator late […]

First Hawaiian Bank said Monday its long-term credit rating from Standard & Poor's Rating Services has been affirmed as "AA-".
The bank said it was found by Standard & Poor's to have consistent earnings, a diversified loan portfolio and strong asset quality. First Hawaiian's long-term credit rating was upgraded from "A+" to "AA-" last […]

Colorado ranked sixth in the nation for an infusion of venture capital investments during the second quarter, according to a new report.
The MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters, shows Colorado companies collected 2.5 percent of the nearly $7.4 billion invested across the country.
Colorado’s ranking trails […]

Americans signed fewer contracts to buy previously owned homes in May for the third month in four, a sign home prices have yet to touch bottom, economists said before a private report today.
The index of pending home resales fell 3 percent after a 6.3 percent gain in April, according to the median forecast […]